Falling Star
by silvercoat
Summary: Jameron/Jallison mostly. Happens near the beginning of season two. Goes slightly AU, but not too much. Complete one-shot.
1. Chapter 1

**Falling Star**

Authors Note

Rated T , Some offensive language, suggested adult themes.  
Romance/Adventure  
Complete one-shot. Jameron/Jallison mostly. Happens near the beginning of season two. Goes slightly AU, but not too much.  
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**Chapter 1 : "Catch a falling star..."  
**  
**"You could eat me." Cameron said.

John heard this, but the words did not make sense at first. There was a knot of bark that was sticking into his buttock, he shifted his position slightly on the fallen tree. Then her words sank in, and he realized what she had said.

"What?" He replied, still somewhat short of breath. "What are you talking about?" When she did not reply he looked around himself and shook his head, "How the hell did we come to this?"

Cameron decided to answer the last question first. Cromartie was still some distance down the hill, too far to hear their voices, no matter how acute his hearing was. She turned to face into the gentle breeze that was rustling the leaves, the work from climbing this far up the slope was causing a temperature rise. Not a problem so far, but it was prudent to take advantage of the airflow. Cromartie with his additional mass would have greater cooling problems, and so she decided that a few minutes rest for them would not increase the danger of the situation. To answer the question she would have to review her memories. John knew full well how they had ended up on the run, unless his memory was faulty. Perhaps he needed information on the entire situation. She reviewed files going back nearly four days.

Cameron heard the door to Sarah's room opening, a few seconds later she came unsteadily into the kitchen, which was lit only by the soft moonlight from the window. Cameron, still watching out of the window heard Sarah bump into the table, letting out a muttered curse as she did. A glass tumbler clinked on the cutlery as Sarah picked it from the drainer, then she filled it from the tap, gulped half of it down, and slumped into a chair at the table.

"It is still nighttime, you should be sleeping." Cameron said, turning to look at her.

Sarah glanced at the clock on the wall, she could not make out the hands at first, but if she looked at the wall beside the clock, then the hands stood out more clearly. Just gone 3:10.

"Are you having trouble sleeping?" Cameron continued.

Sarah looked up at her. "It's ironic, the more tired you are, sometimes the more difficult it is to sleep." She drank another mouthful. "But you don't get that problem do you."

Cameron did not respond, turning instead to look out of the window. There was a faint sound of a car on the road outside, approaching. Cameron strode to the side window, where she could look down at the driveway to the house.

"The best sleep I got was in the jungles. Strange really, with all the animal noises, the dangers. But somehow...." She trailed off as Cameron raised a hand. The sound of the car became louder, and then quieter as it slowed, and then came the crunching of the gravel she had put down in the driveway.

"It sounds like Derek's car." Cameron said. "This is the first time he has arrived here this late." The car ground to a halt. "Yes, Derek, he is alone. His driving was slightly erratic."

Sarah relaxed, the M4 strapped to the underside of the table could stay where it was.

The car door slammed, and then she heard his footsteps approaching the front door. There was a metallic jingling sound, and then the clink of metal on stone. A slurred curse that she could not make out, then a heavy body bumping into the door.

"Let him in at least." Sarah said.

As the door opened, Derek picked up his keys, then swayed into the room, and sat down in one of the chairs.

"And you are here because?" Sarah asked, then added, "Jesus Derek." She looked at him distastefully. "You smell like sex. You could have washed, why come here at this time?"  
He mumbled something under his breath, his hand struggling to put his keys back into his pocket.

"What was that?" Sarah asked.

Cameron closed the door, and began re-locking it. "He said that Jessie has thrown him out."

"Jessie?" Sarah asked, her voice rising in pitch. "Oh hell, it doesn't matter. You can't treat this place like a motel, Derek. Where are you these days? Who the... Who's Jessie?"

"Mom keep the noise down, please." John said, peering round the corner into the room.

"John! Bed now!" Sarah shouted. "And why are you dressed? Is that a TV I can hear?"

"Chill out Mom. Tomorrow's the last day before spring break. We can go in late to pick up our assignments. Nothing else will be happening."

"That's not the point!" Sarah's voice was close to as loud as it got, and she was tapping the tumbler on the table. Derek raised his hands and started rubbing his temples.

The tumbler had suddenly broken, at which point it had descended into a cacophony of shouting. This was without doubt the beginning of the current predicament, Cameron concluded.

"It started when Derek arrived home in a disorderly and intoxicated state, during your sleep period." Cameron said. Less than a second had passed since John had asked his question. "Though you were not sleeping." She finished, her voice trying to carry the tones of disapproval that Sarah managed so well. Perhaps all parents could carry that tone in their voices, she wondered. No, not all parents, she realized, but was unsure what part of her systems that memory had come from.

"What started?" He looked up at her face, which was silhouetted against a patch of sky between two trees.

"I am also to blame." Cameron said. "It was my proposal to take a vacation. We needed to 'chill out'." The breeze picked up slightly, and she spread her fingers, raising her arms from her sides. The coolness of the air was a good feeling she decided.

"Yeah, I remember that. Next day it was Derek who suggested the mountains. 'Never seen a bear.' He said." John paused, though his breathing was returning to normal. "And we set out that afternoon. I think I slept most of the way, what happened?"

Cameron decided that John did not want a detailed description of the journey, only a summary.  
"Anything significant?" He hastily added, which confirmed her decision. She reviewed her files, to form up a short version of what had happened.

It was a long drive and they expected to arrive the morning of the next day, in time for an outdoors late-breakfast. Derek had told them of the location of a hunting lodge.

"Only gets used in the fall. We went there once in the Spring and it was empty. If we pick up food for a few days before we get there we should be ok. If we hike up into the hills a few miles we will see deer, if we get lucky bears as well."

Cameron's driving was monotonous. The same steady speed kept the engine at a constant hum that induced sleep. She anticipated events so far ahead, that there were no surprises, no sudden corrections. As a result all three passengers were fast asleep when the Dodge pulled into the truck stop in the last town before the mountains.

After filling the Dodge's tank, Cameron entered the shop for food, a scruffily dressed youth following close behind her. An old song was playing quietly on a radio near the front of the store. She took a basket and went round the shop; flour, eggs, milk, syrup, meat, fruit, vegetables, bread, cheese, bacon, tomatoes, water. Hesitation, then, beer. With the nutritional requirements fulfilled Cameron approached the front of the store to pay. The clerk was reading a newspaper, spread out in front of him on the counter. He was singing along to the nearby radio, softly under his breath, "...put it in your pocket. Save it for a rainy..." He looked up at the attractive girl approaching the counter.

Cameron smiled at the clerk, "Hi."

"Hi there." He replied, her smile encouraging him to be more chatty than usual. "This is some breakfast you getting ready for. Cooking for many?" He started scanning the items.

"No." She replied, "I'm just real hungry today. Eating for two." Then she turned sideways and patted her flat midriff, "Does it show yet?"

"No, ermm, no not at all." He dragged his eyes away from her, and looked towards the back of the shop. "Most folks coming through here are going hiking and stuff. If you heading into the mountains, we do good gear as well." He hesitated, then, with his eyes widening in shock, "Hey you , what the …."

As Cameron turned around the other customer pushed past her, pointing a snub nosed revolver at the clerk. He then turned to Cameron. "You, on the ground now, don't move."

Cameron backed away to one side, but remained standing, keeping between the gunman and the car outside, a quick glance showed that someone was sitting up in the car, and looking into the shop. The robber pointed the gun back at the clerk, shouting instructions to empty the till. The hand holding the gun was now shaking, and he grabbed at the money that the clerk was holding out. Cameron reviewed the files on robbery, there was a possibility that the clerk had already alerted the police, in which case she should end the situation as soon as possible. But also she wanted to remain unnoticed. It would be better if the robber left out of the fire exit at the back, away from the car that John was in. The sound of the door opening made the robber turn around.

"Get on the floor now!" Sarah shouted. Her Glock pointing at the robber.

Cameron acted quickly, moving between him and Sarah, "Out the back. It is the safest way. Go!" She called out, pointing towards the exit.

"What the... Get out of the way." Sarah shouted at her, but too late, the robber ran for the exit.

"We must leave." Cameron said, swiftly putting the food back into the basket. Then she picked it up, and taking Sarah by the arm dragged her to the door.

"Get off me." Sarah said, struggling furiously, then as the door closed behind her, she broke free.

"You should not have come into the shop. I did not require assistance." Cameron said.

"I'd only just woken up, I got confused. I thought it was John in there." Sarah replied, "Anyway. I wouldn't help you. I wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire."

"We must leave now. Before the police arrive."

Sarah stared at her, then saw the sense in what she was saying. "Yes." She was embarrassed by the incident, but also concerned at her own lack of judgment. "Don't tell the others."

"There was a significant incident." Cameron said to John. "Sarah appeared on security tapes during a robbery. It is most likely that still images were placed on the FBI system, Cromartie must have seen them. That explains his presence, even though the local police do not seem to have taken much interest in her. However, I also made errors. I should have paid for the goods, and I should have destroyed the security tapes. At the time we thought it best not to mention it to you or Derek."

John absorbed this, "A robbery? Could you have stopped Sarah maybe?"

"No." Cameron replied, "It would have been suspicious if I had endangered the baby. I do not want to appear a freak. Freaks stand out and get attention. We do not want attention."

"I guess you're right. I hope no bystanders were hurt." He stood up, and smiled at Cameron. "I'm kind of glad you're learning. Worrying about a baby like that. We'll make you human after all." He slapped her gently on the back of her shoulder, then immediately wished he had rested his hand there instead.

John picked up the small backpack. "Explains how Cromartie came to be waiting for us back at the lodge. I guess we were kind of lucky. If he had put a bomb in the car, or hid properly, he may have got us. You are sure that Mom and Derek are ok?"

"Yes. You have asked that several times." Cameron took the backpack from him. "They ran to the car for cover, Cromartie came straight after us. Long after we had retreated up the slope, I could hear them shouting for us. But we only have a Glock, not enough to stop him. We cannot confront him. Trying to get around him would be a substantial risk. Our best chance of escape is to lose him in the mountains, then work our way to a road, and hitch-hike back home."

"Yeah, I guess so. If we get further up, we may get a phone signal too." John looked up into the mountains. They were still some distance from the tree line, which ended some way below the tops of the peaks. He could hear the faint trickle of water off in the distance. "We should be ok for water, but food? This may take a few days."

"We have some potato based chips. Not many. We may be able to catch wildlife, though we should not fire the gun. Also, as I mentioned, you can eat my flesh."

John stopped and stared at her. "How can you even say that? It's just not going to happen. I can do without food for a few days if needed."

Cameron turned to him. "I will repair. I would suggest a leg at first. This is only for emergencies. It is unlikely to be required, but it is prudent to plan for eventualities. The calorific content..."

Cameron stopped talking and turned to face down the slope. A few hundred yards from them a bird had flown up squawking in alarm. "Cromartie may be approaching, we should leave. His tracking skills in woodland are limited. He is unlikely to have the programming for it. We should be able to lose him. I suggest we find a stream or river, and walk along it."

"Did I program you for this? Seems kind of farsighted of me."

"No. I read things on the Internet, and last week, I watched Rambo on TV." She turned away and started walking up the hill. "Come. Try and be quiet, do not disturb the undergrowth."

"Maybe Cromartie watched Rambo." John muttered. "He seemed the type."

The water in the stream was fresh and cooling. He gulped down several mouthfuls, then flicked his hands to dry them. He looked up to see Cameron refilling the juice bottle. After she had done this she left her hands in the water, watching the play of reflections on her skin.

"What are you doing?" John asked.

Cameron did not reply at first, but remained staring at her hands. After a few seconds, that seemed to John much longer, she said. "I like this feeling. It is..." She looked up at him, "Sensual." Then she rose from the water. "Come, we should leave now. If we walk downstream for about a mile, staying in the water, we will leave no tracks." She strode off, her heavy boots disturbing the rocks and stones in the bed of the stream.

After a few paces John looked behind him. "Are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, well look."

Cameron did not not turn around, but strode on. "Yes, this is what Rambo would do."

After a while they came to a flatter area where the stream broadened and flowed more slowly.

"We can leave the stream now. You should dry your feet." Cameron said. "We have come several miles. It will be dark soon. We can pause briefly under this tree. Then continue. It will be a cloudless night, we will be able to see with the light from the moon and stars."

John was already taking off his boots. He then pulled the thin cotton socks off and wrung them out. "These boots are supposed to be waterproof, but too much splashing I guess. Was that the last of the chips? I thought we had another bag."

Cameron did not reply. Instead she was looking up towards the side of the mountain from where they had come from. She pointed, "Look."

John looked in the direction she was pointing. "I can't see anything. Where?"

"At the top of the tree line, by the group of three boulders."

John squinted in the general direction, "Nope. Can't see them."

"Here, follow the line of my arm. Sight along from my shoulder." Cameron moved to where he was sitting and he rose to meet her. Standing behind her he closed one eye and squinted along her arm and along her extended index finger. He rested his chin on her shoulder.

"Ah I see the boulders." He said. The scent of her clothing distracting him. "What else is there?"

"Just beyond, towards the sky, a patch of blue, moving."

"Right yeah, I can just about make it out. What is it? Derek and Mom? No it can't be."

"Correct." Cameron turned her head, her face inches from him. "It is Cromartie."

"What the." John jerked back, and instinctively ducked behind her. "Can he see us?"

"Unlikely. We are in shade here. We should stay under the trees if we can."

John relaxed and sat back down. "I guess he must have gone uphill to get a better view. If he did know we were here, how long do you reckon it will take him to get here?"

"He is still going up hill. I would estimate about seven hours." Cameron studied him for a few seconds. "You should rest for a few hours, try and get some sleep. I will catch some food, before we start off again." Seeing that John was looking around himself somewhat doubtfully, Cameron took off her jacket. "Here, I do not need it, use it for a pillow, or for warmth."

She bent down and took out a packet of crisps, opened it and took out a few. "Don't eat them." She said, "Watch."

John watched her as she walked away down the hill, her back to him and Cromartie, then he rolled up the jacket and laid it onto the roots of the tree. He shifted about before finding a spot where there were not too many roots and stones digging into him. He looked out towards where Cameron had walked about a hundred paces away. She turned to face him, and spread out her arms, then became still. Her hands were palm upwards. John could just make out the crumbs of crushed crisps in her hands. He guessed that she could see both him and the mountain Cromartie had climbed.

John lay down and rested his head on the pillow, suddenly aware of his tiredness. He breathed in the smell of the jacket. It smelled of Cameron, but he found it difficult to place what the smell was. He found himself breathing in deeply, to smell it again. She wore perfume, he knew that, perhaps to cover up a more machine like smell, or maybe just to fit in. Did she have body odor? Did she wear deodorant? He thought back to when he had looked along her arm, was there another smell, did she wash her hair? He smiled at what Sarah would think, Cameron sharing the same shampoo and conditioner as her. The words Cameron had spoken came back to him, 'just beyond, towards the sky.' They reminded him of a nursery rhyme Sarah had sung to him as a child. Sitting on her knee on the long coach rides. Crossing the country on a long journey that seemed endless for a young boy. The weather gradually getting warmer as the days went by. He shifted in his camp bed, in the background he could hear the sound of the fire, the flames crackling around the logs. The gentle murmurings of their friends, in a language he was beginning to understand. The cicadas were chirping in the trees close by. He heard the sound of footsteps approaching, but he was too tired to open his eyes. He felt the soft hand of his mother on his shoulder, then under his head. She raised him slightly, and when she gently let his head fall again, the pillow felt as soft as the one he had had as a child. Then she laid a blanket on him, pulled it up to his neck, and ran her fingers through his hair. A shared joke around the fire brought forward laughter. She patted his shoulder again, then lay down next to him. From the distance came the sound of the bells on the ankles of the girl from the Emerald City, then louder as she approached and began to dance around the fire, the Comancheros applauding in encouragement. She looked down at him as he sat warming himself in front of the fire, and smiled, her teeth flashing white. John felt his face flushing red, and hoped that no one would see. Or if they did, that they would think it was the heat from the fire. The girl held out her hand to him, beckoning, and he felt his mother wrap her arm around him protectively, then whisper something in his ear, her lips brushing his hair.

John woke with a start. It was dark, and the sky shone with a dazzling array of stars, brighter than they ever were when seen from the city. He shivered, the warmth of the day had drained away, and the chill of the air had seeped into his body. Cameron stirred next to him. John looked down at her. She had taken the jacket from under his head, replacing it with the day sack. He squeezed it, it felt like she had stuffed it with moss. The jacket lay on top of him. No, he corrected, on them. Cameron was lying that close to him. As he put his arm out to steady himself, his hand touched a feathery pile. Full of sharp bits. He jerked his hand back. Cameron was still lying next to him, he could feel her warmth on his skin. It was too dark to see her clearly even with the starlight, he put his hand where he thought her shoulder should be, and he felt her bare flesh under his fingers. He pushed her gently then jerked his hand back.

"Hey." He whispered. "You ok?"

"Ummppphhhh." The reply came. She stretched out a hand and yawned.

John looked down at her, the seeds of worry forming in his mind. This was not a good time for another 'episode'. He shook her more violently.

"Don't do...." She protested. "Stop that! I'm awake." She suddenly sat up. "Where am I? What the......"

As John looked at her, he caught a reflection of the stars in her eyes. "Cameron, is your memory faulty? It may be the cold, but I thought you once said that you could regulate your temperature."

"John? Is that you?" She replied. "You sound kind of different." She turned towards him, "And you look so young." Then she froze for a moment, her next words were frosty and slightly hostile, "And who the hell is Cameron?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Falling Star**

Chapter 2 : "...Never let it fade away"  
  
The peak of the mountain was the first to catch the light from the approaching dawn. Initially the peak became lighter, then it shifted in colour, a soft violet, deepening and changing to a pale gold. A band of blue widened on the horizon opposite the mountain, pulling up beige and yellow behind it.

The two figures were sitting next to each other, their backs to a tree trunk. Their bodies pressed together for warmth, and clutching a tan leather jacket in front of them. The top of the peak of the mountain behind them was starting to glow as it caught the rays of the rising sun. Getting brighter like an ember blown by a rising wind.

One of the figures rose to get a better look. He held out a hand for the girl and they looked up at the mountain, then turned to face the dawn.

"What are we going to do with the birds?" John asked.

"I don't know." Allison replied. "I had a look at them, there's a bat in there as well. She must have thought that we could eat them somehow." She held his arm closer to her. "I don't feel hungry myself which is weird. Do we pluck them or something? They seem so small though, and thin. Not like a chicken." His arm felt thin to her as well, she squeezed it gently. He could use some more food, no wonder he was cold during the night. "We used to keep guinea pigs in cages. We could feed them scraps. Once a month or so we could take one, gut it, squash it flat and roast it over a fire." She giggled, "Derek called them road kill. There were rats as well, but we never had to eat them. After John, I mean you, took over we got more food. There were places we could find food stored up. We had started to grow food on the tops of some buildings, pulling up the earth and water. The metal left it alone, just plants to them I guess."

A lock of her long brown sun-kissed hair fell across her eyes. She passed a hand over her face and flicked it behind her shoulder, then scratched her nose where the hair had tickled it.

"You mentioned Derek. Is that Derek Reese?" He asked.

"Yes!" She replied. "How do you know him here? Oh, you must have sent him back. Is he around? It would be great to see him again, be a bit weird though. Kyle must have missed him, no one to argue with. Kyle used to joke that Derek was always looking out for him, but it was kind of the other way around, if you know what I mean. Them and Martin......" She stopped.

"Martin?" John asked. "What about him? Martin who?"

She looked confused. "I don't know. That's all I have, a name. I can't put a face to him, don't know anything about him. You trusted him I think. But I don't know anything else. Just a hole, but not even a hole 'cos a hole is something. But this is nothing. Like a blind spot, or the back behind your eyes. You don't see black, there's just, nothing." She moved her head around. "I don't have a blind spot either, that's weird."

"You said I programmed you, do you remember that?" He prompted, "I must have left out information on Cameron for some reason. What did I say? "

"Yeah, that's right. I remember you talking to me. I was sitting in a chair, you were saying you 'wrote' me. I don't know what that means."

"I think you must be some kind of sub-routine. Can you sense if Cameron is there? Can you talk to her? Do you have her memories?"

"Sub-routine!" She punched him on the arm. "I feel real. I have real feelings. I can smell, I can touch, I can breath. No wait, I don't breath. That's weird. Just small breaths like, to smell. Not a satisfying deep fill of the lungs, if you know what I mean."

John rubbed his arm, but the pain soon faded. She had appeared to punch him with all her strength. "Allison, can you try something? This rock here, can you try lifting it?"

"You kidding? Oh I see what you mean." She bent down and put her arms around the rock. "Ummpphhhh. No it's not shifted." She stood up and kicked it, making it rock slightly.

She flicked her hair back, the highlights catching the deep ambers of the rising sun.

John nodded, "There must be some kind of limit to the strength. Some feedback." He paused, lost in thought.

Allison walked back to him, and put her arms around his waist, resting her head on his shoulder. She felt him flinch away slightly, then relax and accept her embrace.

"You must have really loved her." She said softly.

"Who?" John asked.

"Allison." She said. "To have made me. It must have taken weeks, months, maybe years even."

"Shh.... Don't say that." John said. "You are Allison to me."

A small pause, then, "I must have died." Her voice quiet.

"How do you mean?" John asked.

"Would you make a copy, if Allison was still alive?" She said. "That means I'm not Allison, I'm how you remember her. How you want her to be." Her voice sounded distant, then she pulled her head back from his shoulder to look him in the face.

"Will you... Will you remember me? I don't mean Allison, I mean me?" She asked.

"Yes, of course." He said, and raised his hand to put around her shoulder, but he was interrupted by a gun shot, closely followed by a deep roar, then one more shot.

"What the....Oh crap. That was not far off. Maybe a half mile." John pushed her away and picked up the day sack, tipping out the moss, and putting back the bottle, clips, and other things. "We have to go now. There's something I've not mentioned yet. We have a triple eight on our tails. We must leave now. It's not Sarah or Derek, they would fire double taps."

Allison stared at him. "A triple eight and you've said nothing?"

"If we head down stream, we can try and lose him. Cameron said to keep going down streams and rivers, eventually we will reach a road, or town or something." He hesitated looking at the pile of birds, then left them. "This way."

He started off at a fast walk, Allison beside him.

"I don't think you can fight him. Not if your strength is limited. Can you sense Cameron? We could use her advice." He asked.

"You asked me that before." She replied, "I can sort of tell she is there. Kind of like when you know that your Mom is in the other room. You know she is there, but you don't want to call her. 'Cos if you do, that will be that. 'Bedtime, and do-not-pass-go' sort of thing."

"Well don't call her yet, not until you have to. You know it's kind of ironic. Mom was scared that a bear might kill us. But in a way it's done the opposite."

They carried on down the hill, mostly walking, but jogging whenever they came to a flat part of ground. They kept the stream to their right. After a few miles a second stream came in from the left to join the one they were following.

"We're going to have to cross this." John said. "Don't get your feet wet." He jumped across it, landing in the wet earth, then turned around and held out a hand to her. She ran up to the edge of the stream and leaped towards him. They collided and she knocked him flat.

"Ouch." John said. "You still way a ton though."

"What!" Allison protested, getting to her feet. "Look at me, I'm slim and fit. The body of a, ermmm..."

"Ballerina?" John suggested.

"Yeah that's right." She held out a hand and helped him to his feet.

He held onto her hand longer than necessary, when she did not let go he pulled her, willingly, towards him. She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him closer. He looked down into her eyes, the blue sky reflecting in them, then darkening as he lowered his face towards her and kissed her lips. She responded hesitantly, at first.

Suddenly she pushed him away and said breathlessly, "We should get going."

John gathered his senses and looked back up the slope. "I can't see him making better speed than we are. But we should keep moving. We should try and lose him, but I don't know how to do that, and keep with the water at the same time." They set off again. Allison bent down and plucked up a handful of long grass.

The next few miles were spent in idle chat. He could see that Allison was doing something with her hands, but he could not see what. When she had finished she held it up for him to see.

"There!" She said proudly. "Bet you didn't know I could do that." She held out a woven grass bracelet.

John smiled as he took it. "Hey that's cool. Thanks." He pushed it over his hand, and onto his wrist. "It fits too."

"Of course, your hand is 25cm in circumference, your wrist is 18." She said giggling.

"Careful!" John laughed. "You will sound like you-know-who." They smiled at teach other.

"Wish I could do something for you." John said.

"Don't be silly." Allison said, "You already have." And took his arm.

They walked along for a few minutes, then Allison asked, "Do you spend much time with Cameron?"

"Well, yes. She's my sister, sort of. And she hangs around to protect me. So we do the same classes at school, mostly, not all the same. We have lunch together and so on."

"Doesn't anyone think that's weird? I know if I had a brother, I'd stay well clear of him. Anyway, how can you share the same classes? You can't be the same age, it's not like you are twins or anything."

"Fair point, I'm not sure." John shrugged. "No one has ever asked. If they do, maybe I'll say she was adopted."

"Does she do what you ask? Can you boss her around and so on?"

"No. Hell she won't." John laughed. "She might do. But she's only doing it because she wants to. Sometimes she just sort of stares at you in a creepy sort of way. I think she tried to make friends to fit in. But it didn't work, people seem to pick up on some kind of vibe and get scared of her."

"I see." She paused to think, then said. "In the tunnels there was a kid who was artistic, I think it was, only that can't be right. Anyway he was kind of like you describe Cameron. But he had his parents to look out for him. And the rest of us. We all kind of looked out for each other, when we could. Until you found me. Then you looked out for me." Allison jumped down a small outcrop of rock, the stream gurgling over a short waterfall. She held out a hand to steady him after he landed.

"So....." She continued. "You've got this attractive girl in the same house, who sometimes does what you ask. You said earlier she's got no hang ups, about her body or anything. Like when she walked around just in her knickers and bra." She looked across at John mischievously. "You must have been tempted to, you know, investigate her body a little bit? Maybe peek at her when she dresses? Sneak a little look when she's in the shower?"

"No!" John protested. "No way, not a machine, not my sister."

"Why you going red then?" Allison asked.

"I'm not."

"Yes you are, even redder now."

John did not reply, he strode on, unsure what to say.

"How do you know that's not why you sent her back? To 'educate' yourself a little bit." Allison continued. Then the thought struck her. "Oh shit. That's what I am. You sent me back to do, you know, like what we do in the future. Protect you in a different sort of way, maybe from someone else." She furrowed her brow. "So what went wrong?"

John was grateful for a chance to change the subject. "What do you mean, what went wrong?"

"Well, if he, I mean you, sent back me and Cameron. Her to protect you, and me to, well, you know, and better conversation for a start, from what you've said about her." She spread her hands out, trying to display the problem. "Then why have I only just woken up? Why not earlier?"

John thought about this, but could not think of an answer. Before he could reply, he saw what was ahead and raised an arm to point. "Looks like the trees are thinning out."

"Can you hear that?" Allison asked. "I can just make out a sort of roaring from ahead."

"A bear?" John asked.

"No. Continuous. I'd guess a waterfall maybe."

"Lets find out." He replied.

He was about to start walking again, when a hot angry bee screeched between them at head height, driven on by the crack of a whip behind them. He turned around as Cromartie fired again, the bullet passing over their heads. Cromartie was advancing towards them with a slow but steady pace.

"Run!" John shouted needlessly. The two of them fleeing over the rough ground. "Pass me the Glock."

"The Glock?" Allison asked, then. "Oh. I think... We will have to do without it. I put it down when we rested, it was sort of digging into me."

"No problem, not much use against a...." He stumbled, then regained his feet. "Here." He grabbed her hand and pulled her behind a tree.

He glanced around the tree to look behind them. He glimpsed Cromartie through the trees, he was now several hundred yards behind them. "He's not running. We can stay ahead of him. But we can't sleep or rest unless we can lose him." He paused. Above the sound of his panting he could make out a soft roaring.

Allison grabbed his hand. "Look." She pointed. "The trees stop there, it's much brighter too."

They jogged forward, the closer they got, the more obvious it became that they were approaching a cliff. The edge to a ravine cut into the rock by a fast flowing river below.

A few minutes later they reached the edge and John peered over. "The drop must be a few hundred feet." He called out. His voice nearly drowned by the sound of the river roaring through the bottom of the gorge, it's thunder echoing off the cliff faces. "I can't see any way for us to get down."

He felt Allison pulling his hand. "Over there, looks like a wire or something."

He looked to his left and saw a cable stretching to the far side. "Let's go, there may be a way across."

They ran along the edge of the cliff, and came to an old cable bridge. The cage was at the far side hanging from the thick steel cable, a rope stretching to the side they were on, then looping back to the other side, so that the cage could be hauled from either side, or pulled along from within.

"Quick, he'll be on us soon." John pulled the rope taught but the car at the far side did not move. Allison joined him, and together they pulled the rope. "It's no use." He said, "It must be rusted up."

"Keep trying." Allison said. A sharp crack and something smacked into the rock at their feet. Allison levered herself to pull on the rope, and John grimaced as he put all his strength into it. With a jerk, the cage moved. As they picked themselves up, John looked behind, Cromartie was no more that a hundred yards away, approaching, a pistol in his outstretched hand.

"Faster." John said, pulling the rope in hand over hand. At first the cage fell along the cable to the centre, but after that, gravity was against them and the weight of the cage slowed them down. With agonising slowness the cage approached them, then knocked into the stone, and scraped to a halt in front of them.

"Quick, not much time." John shouted. He jumped into the cage and held out a hand for Allison to climb in.

She paused, both hands on the edge of the cage. "No time John, we'd be half way across when he gets here. Remember me."

John looked up at her. She had a look of anguish on her face. He stretched his hand, frantically beckoning to her and shouted. "Cam, jump in, here grab my hand."

Instead she put her shoulder against the cage and sent it over the edge. Her final kick propelling it rapidly along the cable, before it slowed to a halt in the middle.

"Allison!" He cried out, tortured by his slip.

As he watched he saw Cromartie round the corner, raising the gun towards him.

Allison's face was full of sorrow, "I'm sorry John." She shouted, "I...." But her final two words were lost in the roar of the river, and the wind carried their echoes away.

The bullet whizzed over his head. He looked back to Cromartie, the slide was locked back on his gun and he dropped it to the ground. Allison stood up and beat her fists against Cromartie's back. A swung fist knocked her backwards, sprawling onto the rocks. Cromartie picked up the rope, and pulled it. The cage jerked backwards. John grabbed the opposing rope, but with the next pull from Cromartie, it sped through his hands, scraping a raw patch on his palms. He looked down, the river was at least a hundred feet below, and surged it's way through a tumble of rocks at the bottom of the ravine. A heavy crunching sound made him look up again. Allison had regained her feet, and had kicked Cromartie to the ground. He got up but another kick landed with a loud impact. John grabbed the rope, not feeling the pain in his hands, and began hauling the cage to the opposite side. He glanced back, to see Cromartie teetering on the edge, their arms were hitting each other, and a few blows later, his feet slipped, and he swung out over the edge. A final sweep of his arm, and he grabbed Allison's ankle, and she fell with him. Just as it seemed too late she grabbed a steadying cable, and for a few seconds the two of them swung below the bridge, before a final kick released Cromartie's grip, and he fell, slowly turning end over end, until he struck the rocks below, bouncing off them and into the river, to sink below the surface.

John looked up. Allison had pulled herself up to the landing stage and had picked up the rope. She began hauling the cage back towards her.

He noticed the pain in his hand for the first time, and looked down. Blood was seeping steadily from his palm. He pulled a tissue from his pocket and gripped it tightly. The cage landed with a bump. John stood up in it unsteadily.

"Allison, you ok?" He asked.

She climbed into the cage and sat down opposite him.

She looked at him impassively, "The Allison routine was an unacceptable risk."

"Cameron?" John asked, fear knotting his stomach. "Can you bring Allison back? I'd like to talk to her, thank her, well, talk to her."

Cameron tilted her head and looked him in the eye. "Stay down, I will pull us across." She paused, then said, "You have lost weight. You should have eaten the birds." She looked down at the surging water below and added, "I can learn."

"Cameron?" John asked, "Where's Allison?"

"The Allison routine has been deleted." Cameron stated.

The cage fell slowly towards the middle of the cable. Then the girl stood up and tugged on the rope, pulling the cage across to the other side. The boy sat still. His thoughts drowned out by the roar of the river, the raging water washing all his dreams far away.

**Epilogue:**

The truck driver saw the girl first, she was standing beside the road, her arm extended and her thumb out. She was carrying a jacket in her hand, her breasts jutting against her damp t-shirt. She was a long way from the next town, and he pulled the truck to a halt. Then the boy stood up slowly and the two of them walked towards the truck and climbed in.

Strange couple, he thought, must have had some major argument. The girl was chatty enough, almost seemed to be flirting. But the boy was silent, moody. The driver looked across at the boy. The girl moved her hand and squeezed the boys knee, but he just sat there, staring down at a simple grass bracelet about his wrist.


End file.
